RESUMO
The association between fat distribution and Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotypes was studied in a sample of Basque children and youth aged 8-19 years. About mid-adolescence, mean somatotype of Basque males changed, diminishing in endomorphy and mesomorphy, and increasing slightly in ectomorphy. For the same period, reduced mesomorphy was the most striking change in the female mean somatotype; meanwhile, there was an increase in endomorphy and a decrease in ectomorphy. Two groups of fat distribution were identified: centripetal and peripheral. Centripetal fat increased with age in both sexes. Fat distribution groups showed the following characteristics: a) mean somatotypes of centripetal and peripheral subjects were significantly different; b) centripetal boys and girls were extreme endomorphs prior to adolescent somatotype change; c) centripetal girls showed high ratings of endomorphy after adolescence; d) mesomorphy was related to a centripetal fat distribution pattern in both sexes; e) using the BMI as a criterion of obesity, only 16.3% of centripetal males and 21.8% of centripetal females were classified as obese; f) obesity was absent among subjects with a peripheral pattern, except for one male showing an endomorphic-mesomorph somatotype; h) the obese showed extreme somatotypes with high endomorphy and mesomorphy, and minimal ectomorphy. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.